Twiggy the dog update: routine is not always routine

The orthopedic surgeon caught me on my way home to say that fixing the old pelvic break would require taking out the acetabulum and the femur head in order to create enough space for the colon.

This would mean that the colon would be back to its normal size and function and Twiggy would have no more issues with what she ate and how she passed it.

The surgeon did however stress the need to get the blockage out pronto and to make sure to have Twiggy back at the vets the next morning to do that.

I was heading up to New Liskeard the next day so before I left, I took Twiggy in for what I expected to be routine enemas and off I went.

But routine is not always…routine.

Around dinner time, my vet texted me with the words “Call me” which are never good.

“Call me” means complications.

“Call me” means something is not right.

In this case, they had been working on Twiggy all day long, and nothing had moved.

As it turned out, the impaction was made up of bone fragments, bits of cloth, and dirt, probably stuff that Twiggy had been trying to subsist on while living on the street.

As expected, it had turned into something similar to a chunk of cement and they couldn’t break it up, and they couldn’t move it.

So the decision was made to do surgery the next day to massage the blockage through the colon in order to manually break it up and then hopefully flush it out. While in, they would also spay her. With Plan B in motion, I was off to bed.

The next morning I received another phone call.

Twiggy had passed the blockage on her own during the night!

Rather than put her through anything else after two months of diarrhea and a day of enemas, we decided to give Twiggy a much deserved rest and be a normal dog who doesn’t have to squat every ten steps.

And so Twiggy spent her weekend finding a warm sunny spot in which to soak up the spring sunshine and she even managed to find herself a new home!

For now all she has to do is pack on some weight and get used to life in a house, rather than on the street.